Imee Marcos calls for speedy establishment of regional specialty hospitals

The government should speed up the establishment of specialized hospitals like the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) in different regions, Senator Imee Marcos said Friday.

Marcos made the call during her visit to the PHC in Quezon City to give financial aid to children who are suffering from congenital heart disease and are in need of open heart surgery.

“We are really in need of regional specialty hospital centers, so that those in Mindanao, Visayas, won't need to come here in Manila. Putok na putok na rito, ang sikip sikip, lumang luma na ang pasilidad rito [sa PHC] kahit napapakinabangan pa. 1975 pa ito, luma na siya,” Marcos told reporters.

(This place is teeming with people, cramped and old, even as it remains useful.)

“We dream of having additional facilities like this in regions, or even one Heart Center in an island group. There is already a law but my suggestion is, the government should enter into a MOA (memorandum of agreement) with the local government units and private hospitals, even medical schools since they have doctors, so these hospitals can be established without the rigmarole of procurement and infrastructure delays that plague government projects,” Marcos added.

Marcos said that her office’s aid to the PHC has already assisted 2,160 children in need of open heart surgery and there are 250 children still waiting.

“Gagawan natin ng paraan sa mga susunod na taon,” Marcos said.

(We will look for ways to fund it in the coming years.)

Marcos said her two children were born with a hole in their heart, and she has been friends with fellow parents in the same situation because they always see each other when their children get treated by doctors.

“I am lucky because the hole in my children’s hearts eventually closed, but it was not the same for other mothers. Dahil pinagpala kami, blessing na blessing kami, pagkaswerte namin, ito na lang ang gagawin ko [na tulong] para sa mga nanay,” she added.

(We are so lucky and blessed, so this is what I can do for mothers.) — DVM, GMA Integrated News